Neighbourhood Planning - Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan

Read the adopted Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan - Referendum Version

The Dunton Bassett Neighboruhood Plan was 'made' on 4 June 2023 by the Portfolio Holder for Planning

The Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan has been approved by the Director for Housing and Regeneration for referendum on 29 June 2023.

• Read the Decision Statement for the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan

The deadline for specified documents to be publicised is 19 May 2023 (i.e. at least 28 days before the referendum)

The specified documents are:

• The Referendum version of the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan
• The report of the independent examiner into the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan
• A summary of representations submitted to the independent examiner
• A statement of the Local Planning Authority’s satisfaction that the draft Neighbourhood Plan meets the basic conditions specified by statute and complies with the provision made by or under Section 38A and 38B of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004
• A statement that sets out general information as to town and country planning including neighbourhood planning and the referendum.
• Read the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan Information Statement

The Notice of Election will be published on Wednesday 24 May 2023

• Read the Local Government Election Timetable of Proceedings for Thursday 29 June 2023

The Examiner made the following recommended modifications for the District Council to complete;

Compliance with European and Human Rights Legislation

Recommendation:

That Harborough District Council undertakes a new screening under the Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations) which assesses whether the neighbourhood plan will have a significant effect on the environment, based on the deletion of Policies H1, H2 and H3 of the Submitted Plan.

That Harborough District Council formally makes a determination under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (the Habitat Regulations) to confirm its view that the neighbourhood plan will not have any significant impact on any European protected sites

Reason: Clarity to confirm that the Plan complies with European legislation and Habitat Regulations.

The District Council has screened the referendum version plan for the impact on European protected sites and has issued its determination which finds that there are no significant detrimental effects of the remaining policies and a full SEA is not required.

• Read the Screening Report for the Dunton Bassett NDP (Post Examination)
• Read the Determination of the Council for requirement for SEA (Post Examination)

The referendum held on 29 June 2023 met the requirements of the Localism Act 2011; it was held in the Parish of Dunton Bassett and posed the question:

 

'Do you want Harborough District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Dunton Bassett to help it decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood area?'

 

The count took place on 29 June 2023  and greater than 50% of those who voted were in favour of the Plan being used to help decide planning applications in the plan area. The results of the referendum were:

Description		Votes
Total number of votes cast		136
Number cast in favour of a "YES"		112
Number cast in favour of a "NO"		24
The number of Ballot Papers rejected was as follows	(a) Want of Official Mark
	(b) Voting more times than the voter was entitled to
	(c) Writing or mark by which the voter could be identified
	(d) Being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty
	(e) Rejected in part
	Total number of Spoilt Votes	0
Electorate 588 Turnout– 23.12 %

Read the Final Decision Notice to 'make' the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan 

Strategic Environmental Assessment

The draft Dunton Basset Neighbourhood Plan as submitted in December 2020 has been screened for the requirement of a Strategic Environmental Assessment. The screening finds that a full SEA is not required. The Qualifying Body have been informed and the Statutory Consultees have been consulted.

• Read the Dunton Bassett SEA Screening Report

In repsonse to the consultation on the Screening Report, Historic England commented that further work was required to assess the impact of the Plan on the Scheduled Monument. The Council agreed with this statement and sets this out in the determination report issued in March 2021. The repsonses of the statutory consultees can be found in the determination of the Council below.

• Read the Dunton Bassett SEA determination

The Council provided an SEA addendum in July 2022 to the Exmainer to include the historic environment assessment for Dunton Bassett and has sought comments from the Statutory Consultees on this document.

• Read the Dunton Basset SEA Determination Addendum

Appendix 8 of the submission version plan deals with the historic environment in Dunton Bassett.

A further determination will be provided to the Examiner when responses have been received in August 2022

• Read the final SEA determination provided to the Examiner for the hearing

Submission of Plan

The Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan was submitted to the Council on 31 January 2022. After checks and validation of the submission documents the Plan will be made available for Regulation 16 consultation between 30 March and 11 May 2022. Details can be found here.

Read the following submission documents

• The submission version Neighbourhood Plan for Dunton Bassett
• The Basic Conditions Statement
• The Consultation Statement
• A map of the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Area
• The Regulation 14 comments and responses by the Qualifying Body part 1 and part 2

The evidence base can be found on the Dunton Bassett PC website here

Regulation 16 Consultation

The Regulaiton 16 consultation took place between 30 March and 11 May 2022. A summary of the representations received can be found below. All representations have been forwarded to the Examiner.

• Read the Regulation 16 representations received

Examination

Mr John Slater has been appointed in June 2022 as Examiner for the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan with the agreement of the Qualifying Body.

• Read the initial examiner questions of clarification for the Dunton Bassett Plan 15 June 22
• Read the response from the Qualifying Body and the District Council. (Provided to Examiner July 2022)
• Read the response from Richborough Estates to the initial questions from the Examiner (provided to Examiner early Aug 2022)
• Read the further clarificaiton questions from the Examiner July 2022

The Examiner  will consider whether the Plan met the Basic Conditions which are that the Plan must:

• have regard to national planning policy and advice contained in guidance issued by the Secretary of State (e.g. National Planning Policy Framework);
• contribute to the achievement of sustainable development;
• be in general conformity with strategic policies in the development plan for the local area (i.e. Local Plan); and
• be compatible with EU obligations and human rights requirements.

Hearing

The Examiner has determined that a hearing is required for the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan.

The hearing took place on 11 October 2022 in Dunton Bassett Village Hall and was an opporuntiy for the Examiner to receive oral evidence on a limited number of questions

• Read the Examiners additional comments and Notice of Public Hearing

A number of invitees were asked to appear at the hearing as set out in the above document.

Invitees included:

• Dunton Bassett Parish Council
• Harborough District Council
• Aitchison-Raffety 
• Richborough Estates
• Leicestershire County Council (Highways)
• Historic England

Historic England declined to attend the hearing but sent a written repsonse

• Read the response from Historic England with regard to the hearing

At the request of the Examiner the Qualifying Body has made available the individual site assessments that were undertaken in preparation of the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan. These are now made publicly available in the interests of transparency

• Dunton Bassett Site 1 – Off Leicester Road – adjacent garage (SHLAA Re A/DB/MXD/01)
• Dunton Bassett Site 2 – Coopers Lane (No SHLAA Ref)
• Dunton Bassett Site 3 – North of Old Coach Road (No SHLAA Ref
• Dunton Bassett Site 4 - Land South of school (No SHLAA Ref)
• Dunton Bassett Site 5 – Off Little Lunnon West (No SHLAA Ref)
• Dunton Bassett Site 6 – The Beat (SHLAA Ref A/DB/HSG/02)
• Dunton Bassett Site 7 – Off Little Lunnon East (No SHLAA Ref)
• Dunton Bassett Site 8 – Church Lane (No SHLAA Ref)
• Dunton Bassett Site 9 – Behind the childrens’ playground (No SHLAA Ref)
• Dunton Bassett Site 10 – Rear of Spice 45 restaurant - (SHLAA Ref A/DB/HSG04)
• Dunton Bassett Site 11 – Spice 45 Restaurant plot (No SHLAA Ref)
• Site Assessment map - Dunton Bassett NDP

As a result of the hearing the Examiner requested that Historic England were contacted to clarify their position with regards to the requirement for a Strategic Environmental Assessment

• Letter to Historic England sent 18 October 2022

Post-Hearing Report

The Examiner has provided a post-hearing report for the Qualifying Body as he considers it would be helpful  to share with the Parish Council, the conclusions that the Examiner has reached, following the hearing, on the housing policies within the plan, as these will have implications on how the Examiner envisages the examination should proceed and in particular the need for an SEA.

• Read the Post Hearing Note 25 October 2022
• Read the Qualifying Bodies response to the post-hearing report 25 Nov 2022
• Read the Examiners response to the Qualifying Body  7 Dec 2022

The Qualifying Body has resolved (9 Dec 2022) to accept the deletion of the three housing policies (H1, H2, H3) and the Examiner will issue his report accordingly.

Final Examiners Report

The final Examiners report was received on 25 January 2023.

• Read the Examiners report for the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan

The Examiner recommended in paragraph 84 of his report:

Recommendation
That Harborough District Council undertakes a new screening under the Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations) which assesses whether the neighbourhood plan will have a significant effect on the environment, based on the deletion of Policies H1, H2 and H3 of the Submitted Plan.
That Harborough District Council formally makes a determination under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (the Habitat Regulations) to confirm its view that the neighbourhood plan will not have any significant impact on any European protected sites is in addition to the determination addendum issued in June 2022 by the Council and considers the response of Historic England that there may be significant environmental impacts on the historic environment and that a full Strategic Environmental Assessment is required.

After deletion of Policies H1, H2 and H3 the remaining policies have been rescreened to determine whether, in the opinion of the Council, the contents of the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Plan as submitted in November 2021 has satisfied the requirements for a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in accordance with the European Directive 2001/42/EC and associated Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004.

• Read the Screening Report for the Dunton Bassett NDP (Post Examination)

The screening opinion of the Council is that the referendum version of the Dunton Bassett NDP and its recommended modifications in January 2023 that a full Strategic Environmental Assessment is not required for the Dunton Bassett NDP to satisfy the requirements of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 (the Habitat Regulations).

• Read the Determination of the Council for requirement for SEA (Post Examination)

Dunton Bassett Parish Council, as the relevant body, applied for the designation of the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Area on 14 February 2018. As the entire Parish was to be designated as the Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Area Regulation 5A of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) and Development Management Procedure (Amendment) Regulations 2016 applies hence a six week consultation period is not required

The application was approved by the Portfolio Holder for Planning Services on 2 March 2018.

View Decision Notice and a map identifying the designated Dunton Bassett Neighbourhood Area (PDF, 277KB).